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Friday, 10 January, 2025

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BUYING?

River safer under plan By Margie Maccoll After five stages of a six-stage Noosa River water management plan have been introduced, Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) say the river is a safer area and they have been relatively pleased with the level of compliance with core safety issues but it is still too early to draw firm conclusions. Over the busy holiday period people have taken to social media with several posts of bad boating behaviour including speeding, blocking beach access at Noosa Woods and overcrowding doggie beach. An MSQ spokesperson said anecdotally, while most boaties are doing the right thing, the number of vessel operators not complying with speed and safety equipment remains a concern, and several Marine Infringement Notices have been issued. Compliance with the new anchoring regulations on the river’s southern shore has, in general, been very good with no infringement notices issued, the spokesperson said. “Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) has been relatively pleased with the level of compliance observed with core safety issues such as speeding and carriage of required safety equipment on the Noosa River over the holiday period,” the spokesperson said. Continued page 10

The holiday period was a busy time for boaties in Noosa River. (Rob Maccoll)

Elder abuse spike By Margie Maccoll The Sunshine Coast (237) and Wide Bay (253) areas were the third and fourth most common places in Queensland for elder abuse to be reported after Brisbane (462) and the Gold Coast (272), according to the latest Elder Abuse Statistics in Queensland 2023-24 Year in Review. The 10th annual report, which was prepared by Uniting Care and based on 4,458 phone calls made in the year to Uniting Care’s Elder Abuse Helpline, and funded by the Queensland Govern-

ment, collects data on victims and perpetrators, relationship and community factors, type and impact of abuse and barriers to reporting abuse. Of the calls made 2674 were notifications of abuse with the most common types of abuse being psychological, financial and social and occurring in close or intimate relationships. Two-thirds of victims reported more than one type of abuse. Most victims of abuse were aged 80-84 years, almost 70 per cent of victims were female and more than half (55 per cent) were living with per-

petrators. Most of the perpetrators of the abuse were aged 50-54 and were daughters (36 per cent), sons (34 per cent) or partners (13 per cent). More than 60 per cent of victims were dependent on support services, most commonly in the areas of domestic help, with meals and with transport. The report recommended more research into neglect, barriers to seek help and social abuse, which is a form of coercive control that can be used as a means to facilitate, maintain, or hide

other forms of abuse. The report found many people do not contact the Helpline until they reach breaking point. In 2023–24, 1,943 cases of psychological abuse were reported to the Helpline. The most common forms of psychological abuse were pressuring, shouting, and making threats. The most common threats were to harm victims, to send victims to residential aged care facilities, and to harm others. Continued page 10

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